Join us to discuss the process of writing biography with these panelists, who will share their perspectives based on their extensive publications in the fields of classical and popular music.
Tim Riley is an NPR critic and the author of Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music—The Definitive Life (2011). His other books include Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary (1999), Madonna: Illustrated (1992), and Fever: How Rock 'n' Roll Transformed Gender in America (2005).
Jan Swafford is a composer and author. He has written the biography Charles Ives: A Life with Music (1998), which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award, and Johannes Brahms: A Biography (1999). He is presently completing a biography of Beethoven.
Judith Tick is a leading authority on the history of women in music. She is the author, with Gail Levin, of Aaron Copland’s America: A Cultural Perspective (2000). She is also the author of the biography Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer’s Search for American Music (1997) and is currently working on a biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Her book Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion (2008) provides several of the selections for this session’s supplementary readings.
Portraits, needlework, firearms, clothing, furniture, silver, scientific instruments, documents, and books from the Society's collections will be on display.
This exhibition features manuscripts; broadsides and banners announcing antislavery meetings and fairs; artifacts—including the imposing stone for The Liberator; and portraits of key players to illustrate the role of Massachusetts in the national debate over slavery and demonstrate how the movement was communicated and followed.
Forever Free features the pen Abraham Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Visitors can learn how the MHS acquired this extraordinary pen as well as view paintings, broadsides, engravings, and manuscripts that tell the story of how Boston celebrated Emancipation.
View documents and artifacts related to Abraham Lincoln.
